The South Fork 7/29 - 7/30

I had a good couple of days fishing the South Fork with two very mature kids named Ben (11) and David (13). I was extremely impressed with their up beat attitude, and willingness to try really hard to get their flies in the right place. The first day they hung in there and both caught some fish. The second day was even better, and both did significantly better than the first day. Actually on the second day, Ben caught a 16'' Cutthroat and David got a 18'' Rainbow. Not to bad for a few youngsters. The hot flies for the two days were the Chubby Chernobyl and the infamous Lightning Bug.

These two young men have completely changed my attitude toward guiding and kids. Even though I had taken kids before, Ben and Davida are truly special. I look forward to fishing with them again in the future. I think we all learned a few things from each other. Give me a call if you are interested in doing a trip down the South Fork.

The South Fork 7/24 - 26

The South Fork has stayed in its mid summer trend. The fish are becoming very wise these days. It is probably because most of them have been hooked several times over. I don't know about you but I wouldn't want my lip ripped up a bunch of times either. So on hot and clear days they are being extremely cautious and coming up and looking at our flies but mostly refusing them. However on Tuesday the weather was cloudy and rainy and every fish in the river was blowing up on our bugs. The trend of good fishing on cloudy days and tougher fishing on sunny days is continuing. Come on rain!

All three days I fished from the Heise Bridge down to Lorenzo. Tuesday the fishing was awesome and we caught lots of fish under the cloudy wet conditions. Wednesday the fishing was average and we boated 21 trout under sunny condition. Thursday it was really tough and we landed about 10 under super hot conditions. One cool thing about Thursday though is that one angler got the South Fork Slam. The guy caught a cutthroat, rainbow, and brown all in the same day. This has only happened to me a few times since I have been here.

Well if you are interested in coming out and giving this river a try I am not going to be here much longer. So you need to start making arrangements because I will be going back to Northern California in less than a month. Come on out and do some insane dry fly fishing with me.

The South Fork 7/12 - 7/21

The South Fork has gone from red hot to very tough in the last week and a half. The first part of last week there was a huge resurgence of Golden Stones, and the lower part of the river turned on fire. The trout were gorging themselves on any golden pattern that floated past them. This hatch was much more impressive than the Salmon Flies, and my clients were getting tons of opportunities at fish.

There were a couple of memorable moments that happened this week. The first was when this woman named Robin caught her first fish on a fly rod. This in itself is exciting, but it becomes even more exciting when the fish she caught was a 20'' brown. I guess when your first fish is big one it is all down hill from there. I should also say Congratulations to Robin on her recent wedding to her husband Scott. I hope God blesses your marriage for many years to come. So within 4 days Robin caught herself a husband and a 20'' brown. Now that is a pretty darn good week.

The other memorable moment was when Gordon from South Carolina caught two browns at the same time. He had a 12'' brown eat his dry and a 10'' brown eat his dropper. I had only seen this one other time in the 12 years I have been fly fishing. It caught us all by surprise.

Since then though the weather has gotten extremely hot and clear, and this warm weather has dramatically affected the dry fly fishing. So the last couple of days have seen an increase in the number of fish eating the nymphs. Most of the guides on the staff have said that it is going to be tough on clear days, but if you can manage to land on a cloudy day the dry fly fishing should be insane. Golden Stones and Hoppers should continue to work for the next several weeks. Give me a call if you are in the area and you want a chance to fish the South Fork. I will be out here in Idaho for the next month!

The South Fork 7/1 - 7/11

The South Fork is continuing to see the large hatches of PMD's and Golden Stones. It has been so nice to be able to throw dry flies everyday I am on the river. I must admit though that the fish are becoming very smart because of the heavy pressure they are receiving. Most of the trout in the riffles are taking emerging mayfly patterns. Thank God for my buddy Hogan Brown (check out his bugs on the Idylewild site), because he has hooked me up with a California pattern that is continually fooling big fish. If it were not for that fly I would be getting my butt kicked. Hopefully this one particular PMD emerger continues to work, and the fish don't wise up to it.

The banks have continued to fish well also with big Chernobyl Ants. So for the most part of the day we are throwing big dries down the bank, and for a couple of hours we are throwing the small bugs on the riffles. If you have a chance come on out fish the South Fork. The river is a true gem in the state of Idaho.

The South Fork 6/25 - 6/29

I had a busy week on the South Fork last week. The fishing was great. All five days I focused on the river from Cottonwood down to Lorenzo. The lower sections of the river has been holding the larger golden stones and yellow sallies. So we are getting the fish to look up at big Chernobyl Ant patterns. The middle of the day has also been terrific as the PMDS have been coming off from 11:00 to about 2:00. This is a great time to be out on the river. This was a fun week for me. If you have any interest in checking out the South Fork you should give me a call.

Carrie and Joe Roche from Sonoma came out and fished the river three days this week. The last day Carrie ended the trip with a great bang. We stopped on this riffle where we saw a few fish rising. The first cast resulted in a 16'' brown that came out of twelve inches of water. The third cast resulted in a 19'' brown that was laid up in five inches of water. The fish was so shallow it was like sight fishing to bonefish on the flats in Mexico. I was so fired up for her. After we landed the second fish, the next cast resulted in an 18'' brown that was pissed off. It was a great 5 minutes. I am absolutely in love with this river. Every fly fisherman and women should experience this dry fly paradise.

The South Fork on 6/17/07

Once again I took out Brady and Casey from Seattle on the South Fork, and it was absolutely brutal. The wind blew about 25 miles an hour all day long and made it extremely difficult on two new fly fisherman. We tried to get away from the wind on the Wolf to Twin Bridges float, but it blew down there also. Amidst the large breeze we boated 16 trout. We hooked something really big that we never saw, and we landed a healthy 18'' brown. I am starting to see a little trend starting on the Snake. It seems like almost every day a person can find an 18'' trout, but it seems like those bigger fish don't reveal themselves as easily. All of the other guides keep telling me when the salmon flies come out, so do all of the big fish. I can't wait for that. Give me a call to get on the river during the Salmon Fly Hatch.

The South Fork on 6/16/07

Today I fished with Brady and Casey from Seattle. The two of them combined had a total of three days of fly fishing experience. They were out here for a couple of days with their parents on a fly fishing get away. We decided to float the top section of the South Fork from Irwin down to Conant. Needless to say the fishing up in the top section was not quite as good as the bottom, but we still ended up boating 19 trout. However the white fish bite was wide open. I could make a lot of money if I was given a dollar for every white fish I catch in the top section. Even with all of the white fish, Casey caught a nice 18'' rainbow and a 20'' cutthroat on Lightning bugs in the afternoon. The hot bug today was the 14 BH Lightning bug tied by Orvis on the scud hook. Any day now the Salmon Flies are going to start popping. Give me a call if you want to get in on the action.